


Crash Course

by scarletkestrel



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Motorcycles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-16 14:52:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13638489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletkestrel/pseuds/scarletkestrel
Summary: Based on a tumblr prompt "I'm running late to school and you just hit me with your motorcycle and no I don't want to go to the hospital because I cannot miss this test just please give me a ride instead."





	Crash Course

**Author's Note:**

> Just a fun little one shot that I wrote to distract myself from the chapter piece I should be working on. Enjoy!

Levy was going to kill Lucy the next time she saw her. That is, if she didn’t die during her mad dash across town trying to get to the school. She’d woken up fifteen minutes ago and almost had a heart attack on the spot when she looked at her bedside clock. When she’d burst into the kitchen seconds later, Lucy had been sitting at the table calmly drinking coffee, like she hadn’t single handedly thrown Levy into a panic. “You were up until three studying, I thought I’d let you take the day. You work too hard, you need the rest,” had been Lucy’s response when Levy demanded to know why Lucy hadn’t woken her up. 

Lucy and Levy had been roommates since their random assignment together freshman year. Now, as sophomores, they had taken a small apartment off campus. The two girls were best friends as well as roommates, but a frequent point of contention was whether or not Levy was working herself to death. She frequently stayed up late reading or writing long papers and had been known to sleep through her alarm. Lucy’s job was to wait ten minutes after the alarm and then wake Levy up if she hadn’t woken up on her own. Normally, being a morning person, Lucy managed this just fine. Except today, when she apparently decided that she was in charge of decisions regarding her friend’s sleep and health. 

Lucy was right about one thing. Levy was exhausted. And she probably was working too hard. But today was the worst possible day for her friend to grow a conscience about her sleep patterns. The reason that Levy had been up until three studying was because Levy had her final exam for her Ancient Sumerian class today. With a major in dead languages, normally Levy had no problems with her exams, which were mostly just translation jobs. But Ancient Sumerian was her hardest class and this final exam made up most of her grade. She could not afford to miss it. 

Cursing Lucy again, Levy poured on the speed and ran harder. Her ragged sneakers made a dull slapping sound against the pavement and her breathing was becoming a painful tugging in her lungs. She got to an intersection and decided it was worth the risk to try and cut the corner if it shaved off a little time. With barely a glance to see if it was clear, she swung herself around a sign and leapt off the curb. 

She was so close, just a few steps and she’d be safe on the sidewalk again. The only warning she had was the rumble of an engine and the squealing of tires, before her feet left the ground and she was thrown forward. All she could think as she fell was that when she’d talked about dying on her run to her school, she had been 100% joking. 

After that it was pretty much just pain. Pain where the vehicle had hit her and pain where her body had hit the ground. Her world was spinning a bit so she kept her eyes closed. She tried to take stock of her injuries. The beginning of what was sure to be a truly magnificent bruise was rising on her hip and her head had gotten knocked against the ground, but nothing seemed to be broken. 

Then she became aware of a stream of curse words getting closer to her. Assumedly, the driver coming to make sure she wasn’t dead. The man continued his rather impressive stream of cursing under his breath as he crouched down next to her. She knew she should probably open her eyes and say something, but figured that one was allowed to take their time with these things when one had just been hit by… something. It hadn’t felt big enough to be a car. But what did she know? She wasn’t very experienced getting run over.

Finally, the cursing stopped with a huffed breath. “Shit, sorry. You alive?” a gruff voice asked, not quite with the concern one would expect in a situation like this. She opened her eyes and had to resist the urge not to immediately close them again. The man looked terrifying. He wore leather pants and a muscle shirt and his wild, long black hair was held back with a bandana. He had a hard face, covered in silver piercings. The eyes staring into her own were red. Her first thought was that he had just hit her and now was coming over to finish the job. 

Which was completely ridiculous. First, she was not the kind of person people targeted for murder. And second, she was completely judging him by his appearance which was something she usually yelled at people for doing. Also, under his serial killer appearance and dour frown, he did look kind of sorry. 

“Oi! Shortie? You good?” he followed up his previous question, which Levy realized she’d never answered because she’d been totally staring at him. Luckily, she was in too much pain to blush. She hadn’t been staring like that. And if she had noticed that his pants were kinda form fitting and his biceps were massive, it certainly wasn’t on purpose. Hmm. Possibly she had hit her head harder than she thought. 

“Alright. That’s it. I’m taking you to the hospital,” he announced. Levy started, tuning in to the word hospital. Probably, he assumed she had brain damage because she had still yet to answer any of his questions. 

“No!” she yelled, a little louder than she meant to, “no hospital.” His studded brows rose, but whether from her sudden volume or at her demand not to go to the hospital it was impossible to tell. It didn’t matter. All she cared about was that she absolutely could not go to the hospital. Her test started in ten minutes and she needed to be there no matter what. 

She started pushing herself up, wiping gravel out of palms with a slight wince. “I’m fine,” she assured him hurriedly, “totally fine. Not to worry. Just a little bump. All good.” She was aware that she was rambling, but couldn’t seem to stop herself. 

“I’m sure you feel very bad about hitting me with your—” She spotted a motorcycle lying on its side at the side of the road next to the man’s discarded jacket and helmet. “—motorcycle, but I am fine as you can see and there are no hard feelings. Nice to meet you, but I have to go.” 

She finally hauled herself all the way up to a standing position. She took one step, however, and almost went all the way back down again. She may have exaggerated the completeness of her fine. Luckily, the man’s reflexes were pretty good and he caught her around the middle before she could crumple when her leg wouldn’t hold her. It was like being caught by an iron beam. 

“Nope, you’re going to the hospital,” he insisted. He scooped her up off the ground, despite her instant protests. He probably meant to be gentle, but obviously had no experience with it and she grimaced when her injured hip hit his stomach. Momentarily, she was distracted wondering how someone’s abs could be solid enough to feel like hitting a wall. 

“Put me down! I can’t go to the hospital. I’m fine. Really. Just put me down. I can walk,” Levy protested futilely. He walked towards his motorcycle. 

Wait, motorcycle. “You hit me with your motorcycle,” she said slowly, piecing together an idea. He stared at her like she had gone completely insane and he wasn’t sure what do about it. Possibly because of the lack of any accusation in her tone. “I said I was sorry,” he grumbled unhappily, “and I did try to stop. It just… didn’t quite work out.” 

Levy did believe him. At least about the trying to stop. She could see the black streak on the street where the motorcycle had skidded. 

“I need a ride,” She said insistently. He continued to stare at her with a complete lack of understanding. “Yes,” he spoke very slowly, like Levy couldn’t understand English very well, “I’m giving you a ride… to the hospital.” 

“No,” Levy cut him off with a sharp head shake of her head. “Do you know where Fairy Tail University is?” 

“Um yeah. I go there.” Levy looked at him sharply. She tried to clear the last of the fog from her head. Now that she looked at him more objectively, he did look vaguely familiar in the “I’ve probably seen you across a quad and I remember because you stand out” kinda way. 

“Huh.” Nice, Levy. Really eloquent. That interesting tidbit had completely deterred her from her original purpose and now she was struggling to remember it. Once again, she had to try and find her bearings. Normally, she was so much smarter than this.

She shook her head to try and clear it, but that just made her dizzy again. Trying to ground herself, she reached out for the closest solid thing. However, since she was still being carried, the only close, solid thing was him. She pressed both hands against his chest and while it was reassuringly solid it was not really helping her feel less dizzy. 

In fact, the way the muscles twitched and relaxed under her hand was really very distracting. Her mouth had gone dry at some point and speaking was proving more difficult than it should. She dragged her eyes away from her hands, which she was struggling to keep still, to his face. 

A hint of a smirk played around his mouth and he raised an eyebrow at her. She realized that she’d been basically feeling him up and then gotten caught staring. Her face flamed viciously and she cursed her fair skin for instantly giving it away. She snatched her hands back like they’d been burned. 

“As I was saying,” she said carefully, “I need a ride. Not to the hospital. To the University.” She enunciated every word and managed not to sound like a total moron, though her phrases were a little shorter than they usually were. 

He’d stopped walking and was gaping at her. “Let me get this straight. I just hit you with my motorcycle.” She tried to grumble that he’d only tapped her with his bike but he ignored her. “Not only are you not afraid of me or threatening to sue. You want a ride. And not to the hospital. To class.” 

She broke eye contact. When he said it like that, it sounded a little ridiculous. And her first instinct had been to be afraid. She was sure that that was the general reaction he got from people. But she just couldn’t find that fear anymore. It had all dried up when he’d asked if she was okay, genuine concern buried under layers of gruff awkwardness, and scooped her up to take her to the hospital. 

“You know most people would take being in a car accident as a perfect excuse to miss class,” he continued, mocking. Her eyes snapped back to his. “Okay normally, I would. I swear, I’m not as crazy as I come off,” Levy insisted urgently, not at all sure if that was the truth, “but I have a test today and it’s super important and I really can’t afford to miss it and I woke up late this morning and that’s why I was running and I just… I really, really need a ride. Please.” On the last word, she turned her puppy dog eyes up to max. If he didn’t agree to help, there was no way she was making it to that test. 

He sighed heavily, “I must be as crazy as you are, Shorty.” They reached his motorcycle and he set Levy upright so that he could stand up the fallen bike. She locked her knees and pretended that she not in danger of falling back down. Her hip protested the weight and she told it to shut up. 

“So you’ll do it? Take me to the university?” She asked excitedly, just to make sure that this wasn’t a trick to get her to the hospital. He nodded as he hefted the bike up, grumbling under his breath as he did it. She couldn’t hear the exact words, but it sounded like a string of expletives close to what she’d heard when she’d opened her eyes.

The muscles in his arms strained as he pulled the bike into an upright position. It was a monstrosity on wheels, all hulking black metal and polished silver accents. For the first time, she felt a thrill of trepidation about getting onto it. He finished setting it right and breathed heavily for a few seconds. She couldn’t imagine what the thing weighed. 

Her eyes followed his breathing as his lungs pushed the fabric of his shirt even tighter across his broad chest. He reached out and wiped a small drop of sweat away from his hairline with the back of his hand. Then he turned back to her. 

She squeaked as he reached out and put his hands on her waist. They were so large and she was so small that they circled most of the way around her torso. Without asking, he lifted her up and placed her on the back of his bike. She bit back the protest that she could have gotten up without his assistance. 

He picked up a helmet that was on the ground next to his jacket and tossed it to her. She caught it with fumbling hands, but managed not to drop it. She just stared at it, it was way too big for her and heavy enough that it felt like a lead weight. He picked up the jacket and shrugged it on. 

It made him look even bigger and she wondered if there was anyone who got in this guy’s way. She supposed she had kind of gotten in his way and look where that had gotten her. She smiled a little, amused at her own joke. 

“What are you smiling at?” He asked suspiciously. Then he noticed she was just holding the helmet. “It’s a helmet. Safety first, Shorty.” He took it from her hands and placed it on her head. It was comically large. 

She scowled at him from under the brim of it, “You know I have a name, and it’s not Shorty. It’s Levy.” 

“I think I like Shorty better,” He smirked, then it relaxed into something that was almost a passable smile. “I’m Gajeel.” 

“Don’t you need a helmet, Gajeel?” Levy asked as she tipped the helmet back so she could see out from under it. She didn’t see another one. He just shook his head. “It’ll take more than this old bike to kill me,” His grin now was reckless and feral and it was the first expression she’d seen on his face that seemed to support the idea that he was dangerous. 

In a quick, practiced motion he straddled the motorcycle. “You’re going to want to hold on,” He warned her. She tugged herself forward on the bike, spreading her legs to accommodate his broad back. Her hands wrapped in the worn leather of his jacket. There was still space between them, it was a sizable bike. 

He pushed the kickstand up with his foot and revved the engine. It growled low and harsh like a wild animal that had been cornered. It buzzed in her ears and thrummed into her skin. She could feel the vibrations of the motor in her legs and spine. 

They took off without any warning. Suddenly they were shooting forward, the wind whipping at the strips of her hair that escaped the helmet. Levy had to lunge forward or risk flying off the back of the bike. She had to press up flush against Gajeel’s back, her cheeks heating at the proximity, to wrap her arms all the way around him. 

Gajeel laughed, the sound low and throaty and she could feel the rumble of it pass from his back into her chest. Her cheeks was pressed sideways into the heavy material of his jacket. It smelled like leather and oil with subtler hints of musk and sweat. 

“So what class is so important that you’re risking riding with me and my bike to get there?” He asked, the words thrown carelessly over his shoulder. He had to shout to be heard over the rumble of the bike, but he managed it. 

Levy pushed herself taller, trying to get closer to his ear so that she had an actual chance of being heard. “Ancient Sumerian!” She yelled. He nodded. She couldn’t tell if it was a polite nod or if he actually knew what the language she was talking about was. “I’m a dead language major,” She clarified. He just nodded again. 

For a few minutes, they rode in silence. Levy relaxed a little bit. Enough that she picked her head up and looked around a bit, but not so much that she released her death grip on his torso. Finally, plagued by curiosity, she spoke again. 

“What’s your major?” She asked, trying to sound disinterested. She tried to think of her best guess, but to be honest, she couldn’t come up with even one. 

“Sculpture, with an emphasis in metalworking and a minor in mechanical engineering,” He responded casually. 

Sculpture? Wait, that meant… “You’re an art major?!” She asked incredulously. His back tightened up under her arms and she could hear the scowl in his voice when he spoke. 

“Yeah, you got a problem with that?” He practically growled. 

She tried to backtrack, shaking her head even though he couldn’t see her. “No, no. It’s cool, I’m just… surprised.” 

He grumbled unhappily under his breath, “Yeah, I get that a lot.” 

“You’ll have to show me some of your work sometime,” She offered pleasantly. She herself did not have a creative bone in her body so she always took great joy in seeing other people’s art. 

“Why should I show you my stuff, Shorty? Like we’re fast friends now that I hit you with my bike.” There was a sharper edge to his words now, and though it could have been irritation, Levy decided to call it remorse. 

“It’s been scientifically proven that vehicular accidents are excellent bonding moments,” Levy told him in her most serious voice. 

He didn’t know her well enough to call her out on the bogus science and just huffed out an unhappy puff of air. Levy laughed at him and was still laughing when the bike slowed to a stop in front of the building that housed all the language classrooms. She hadn’t even notice them drive onto campus. 

She found, for some unknown reason, that she was disappointed that the ride was already over. She should have just been relieved for the miracle of making it on time, but instead she wanted to linger on the bike and talk more to dark and brooding Gajeel. 

Reluctantly, she swung her legs off the bike and hopped the short distance down. “Thanks for the ride!” She enthused sincerely. He didn’t respond, just revved his engine in preparation to take off again. 

“Wait, Gajeel.” She grabbed his arm, stopping him from taking off. Then she froze. She had no idea what she was doing, had no idea what to say next. All she knew was that if she let him leave now, this would be the last time she ever saw him and the thought made her oddly sad. 

Gajeel was interesting, and surprising, and funny. Not to mention very, very hot. She wanted to see him again. She doubted he’d ever be interested in someone tiny and bookish like her, but even just to hang out as friends, maybe see some of his art, would be plenty. 

She reached into her pocket and found a scrap of paper and a pen. Thank goodness she always had stuff like that on her. Impulsively, she wrote down her name and phone number. Oh God, what was she doing? She didn’t do stuff like this, pass out her number to guys she barely knew. She had definitely hit her head harder than she thought.

She thrust the crumpled slip of paper into his hand. His face was blank, but he didn’t shove the paper back at her or toss it over his shoulder so she figured that was a good sign. 

“If you wanted to make up for hitting me, we could maybe get coffee sometime? Just to hang out, I mean. Not like… you know. Or not, I mean, you don’t have to just because you feel like you owe me, but, um, if you wanted to just get together and talk or something. We could do that. Whatever,” Levy finished awkwardly, her face reaching new levels of red as her blush spread across her face, ears, and neck.  
He just sat there, holding the paper awkwardly in his hand. Oh my God, this was so embarrassing. She hoped brain damage wasn’t permanent.

“Thanks again for the ride!” She cut in before he could gather up his wits and figure out how to turn her down. She turned and raced towards the building. She had to forget about Gajeel. She had a very important test to take and then a life to go on living after that and neither of those things would be helped by dwelling on intelligent red eyes, and sharply defined muscles, and wild dark hair. 

 

*******************************************

Two Weeks Later

Levy stretched up onto her toes as she stepped into the sunlight, feeling her back crack appreciatively. She’d thought that lecture was never going to end. Lucy, standing next to her, seemed just as happy to be out of the dark, stuffy room. As a literature major, Lucy took many of the same classes as Levy. Having someone to commiserate with about the painfully boring Medieval Lit professor was priceless. 

Lucy was chatting about something, but Levy was too tired to focus and make out words. She hadn’t absorbed a single word of the lecture either. It was lucky that she’d already read the book they were talking about. 

“Levy! Levy, are you listening?” Lucy asked, waving a hand in front of Levy’s eyes. Levy blinked, focusing in on her friend’s concerned face, and smiled sheepishly. 

“Sorry Luce. I’m just really tired.” Levy yawned, punctuating the last word and proving her point. Lucy rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. You’ve been tired for the last two weeks.” The last two words were pointed and Levy winced. 

Two weeks. Two weeks since she’d impulsively given Gajeel her number. Two weeks in which he had not called, texted, or reached out in any way. Which was fine! Completely and totally fine. Levy was sure most motorcyclists who accidentally hit an innocent pedestrian did not then text that person and go out for coffee. Especially if the motorcycle guy was massive and ripped and the pedestrian girl was tiny and nerdy. 

It’s not like she’d really expected him to call. She had practically seen him figuring out how to reject her when she’d stumblingly pushed the number at him. It’s just… Levy was an optimist. So even though she’d known he probably wouldn’t text, she’d hoped anyway. It was not healthy.

Lucy sighed, “You really need to stop pining after this guy, Levy.” Levy felt her cheeks heat up. “I am not pining!” She insisted. Lucy had demanded to know what had happened after the third time she had caught Levy sitting up at night glaring at her phone like it had personally offended her. Levy had skimped on the details, but had explained the accident and the following interaction. Lucy had teased her at first, but tired very quickly as Levy’s phone remained silent and she slipped deeper and deeper into a permanently bad mood as she became even more sleep deprived than usual. 

And if Levy was sleeping less than usual because she couldn’t get a certain irritating person out of her head, it really wasn’t her fault. He was gruff and rude, but also kinda sweet underneath all that. He was attractive and mysterious and… standing in front of the building she’d just come out of. 

And there he was, leaning up against his bike on the edge of the small road that cut through the campus. He looked almost exactly the same as he had two weeks ago. Hair wild, eyes dark over the distance, thick muscled arms crossed over his broad chest. Levy stopped dead in her tracks. She knew she was staring, but couldn’t help it. 

What was he doing here? His metallics workshop and engineering classes were on the complete opposite side of campus, there was no reason for him to be over here and certainly not stopped in front of this very building, which was almost exclusively language and literature classes. 

Her heartbeat picked up without her permission. This was the same building he’d dropped her off at two weeks ago. He wasn’t… looking for her, was he? No, that was crazy. If he wanted to talk to her, he could have just texted. That’s what normal people did. Should she go over and talk to him? He probably didn’t want to see her. 

Unfortunately, Lucy was not completely blind and had noticed Levy’s staring and followed her gaze. “Oh my god, Levy!” Lucy exclaimed, “Is that the guy that hit you? He looks like a serial killer!” She sounded thoroughly scandalized, but Levy was way too distracted to argue. “His name is Gajeel,” she said simply. 

Then their eyes met across the distance and Lucy was still talking, probably a warning of some kind, but Levy wasn’t listening anymore. He was looking right at her, there was no mistaking it. He straightened up against his bike and jerked his chin up in a sharp gesture. 

Was he asking her to come over? That was ridiculous. Levy looked around to see if maybe she had miscalculated where he was looking and he was gesturing for a friend. When she turned back to him, he rolled his eyes exaggeratedly and waved his hand in an unmistakable ‘get your ass over here’ motion. 

“Levy, don’t you dare. Don’t you dare walk over there. He looks violent and insane and he’s also been totally rude to you, not to mention that he ran you over! Levy, don’t you-” Lucy ranted. Levy ignored her. Without consciously making a decision, her feet started taking her over to Gajeel. 

She stopped in front of him, waiting for him to speak. She had no reason to speak first, she had nothing to say. He was silent, but his jaw twitched like maybe he was rolling words around in his mouth and they just weren’t making it all the way out. 

Finally she gave in. She didn’t have the time, or the patience, to stand here all day while he considered maybe speaking to her. “Can I help you with something?” She asked crossly. 

He startled, like he’d forgotten she was there. Which was ridiculous, he was staring right at her. 

“Um, here. You forgot this the other day,” He responded tersely. She extended her hand and he dropped something small into it. It was a paperclip. 

What? “This is a paperclip,” she stated stupidly, “Why are you handing me a paperclip?” 

“I was, uh, pretty sure it was yours. Thought you might, y’know, want it back or something,” he mumbled. 

Levy just stared at him incredulously. What the hell? He’d ignored her for two weeks and then shown up out of nowhere to return a paperclip that she knew for a fact was not hers? She did not have the capacity to deal with this. She cut off his rambling before it could go further. 

“Gajeel. This is not my paperclip. What are you doing here?” She demanded. He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned away from her. He appeared to be attempting to burn a hole through the sidewalk next to her feet with the power of his mind. 

“I lost your number.” It was more grumble than actual conversation and she barely made out the words. 

“What?” She pushed, sure she’d heard wrong.

“I lost your number.” He finally looked up and met her eyes again. His look was sharp, but was undermined by the red creeping up his neck that could definitely be a blush. 

That’s what she’d thought he’d said. Her brain stalled and she stood there gaping at him. She probably looked ridiculous with her mouth hanging open, but there wasn’t a lot she could do about it at the moment. 

“I put it in my pocket, but when I got to class, it was gone. The wind must have got it while I was driving. I didn’t know how to get in touch with you, I didn’t even know your last name. So finally, a friend suggested I just come back here because apparently language majors have most of their classes in this one building.” The blush spread from his neck to his cheeks and he glared as if to say that any teasing would be met with extreme prejudice.

A smile grew on Levy’s face as he talked. It was more words than she’d ever heard him say at once. She could feel weight just falling off of her shoulders, and the grin was completely involuntary. He hadn’t thought she was awful and annoying. He’d wanted to call. He’d… totally stalked her classes trying to find her. 

Oh my God. She could never let him live this down. Her grin turned into a smirk and he recoiled suspiciously. “So, how many days have you been hanging around my building, desperate to find me,” she asked sweetly. 

His scowled deepened, “I have not been desperate-” 

“How many days?” she finagled. 

“Five,” he grumbled unhappily. 

A laugh burst out of her and he glared at her. A week! He’d been searching for her for a whole week. He had terrible luck too, through a strange set of circumstances including professor absences, class field trips, and a classroom on the third floor flooding, she’d barely been in the building all week. 

Though now that she knew that it was just a simple case of a lost number, she felt rather foolish for losing sleep over him. She wondered idly if he’d lost any over her and decided it was wiser not to push her luck. 

“So…?” She prompted, rocking back on her heels. 

“So?” He repeated stupidly.

“So now that all your stalking-”

“It was not stalking!”

“Showing up at all my classes in a desperate attempt to find me, whatever. So now that that’s paid off, what did you want to say to me?”

He looked completely flummoxed. She resisted the urge to laugh again. How was anyone scared of this guy when he was so clearly just awkward? His mouth was hanging open and while the red had receded a little from his cheeks, it was still scorching his neck.

“Um…” It was like all the gears in his brain had ground to a complete standstill. Did he really not think this through at all?

A tiny smirk slid onto her face against her permission and immediately his mouth snapped shut and he scowled. She crossed her arms, content to wait him out. After the stressful two weeks he’d given her, he deserved to sweat a little bit.

Finally, he composed himself enough to manage words. “They made me put some of my stuff in that thing they’re doing.”

It took Levy a second to dig through that sentence that was completely void of any actual nouns, but she figured it out. Gajeel’s grumbles were nowhere near as difficult to translate as Ancient Sumerian and Levy was a pro.

“You submitted some of your sculptures to the exhibit they’re doing at the art center this weekend?” She asked excitedly.

He nodded. “I know you said you wanted to see what I worked on, so I thought you might want to go. Y’know, if you were serious about being interested in art. If you needed a ride, I could take you over. Or, y’know, whatever. You don’t have to go or anything.”

Was that an invitation to attend an art show with him? Before she could spit out the yes that was at the forefront of her mind, she heard Lucy’s voice in her head reminding her what this guy had put her through the last two weeks. Even though he was forgiven, Levy couldn’t help drawing it out a little.

“You asking me to an art show, Gajeel?” She wheedled teasingly.

“Not if you’re gonna be like about it,” he grumbled.

“Too late to change your mind now. No take backs on invitations.”

“You’re making this very unpleasant, Shrimp.”

“Should I dress up?”

“You do you, Shorty. Wait,” he paused, his eyes widening fairly comically, “does that mean you’ll come?” 

He looked fairly floored. Like he was 100% sure she was going to say no. Levy laughed, loud and bright. Had be been stalking her for a week expecting the whole time to be rejected once he’d finally found her? She had given him her number. She decided that that had been enough teasing for now.

“Yeah, Gajeel. I’d love to go with you. Is there a dress code?”

He smiled, his first genuine one of the day and it made Levy smile even broader, “Not one that I care about. They don’t like what we’re wearing, they can answer to us.”

She took that to mean it was formal dress, but Gajeel would be wearing the same leather jacket he apparently wore every day. Still, the mental image of the two of them grossly underdressed at some formal event, some poor employee trying to ask them to leave, and Gajeel growling at them in response, was shockingly appealing.

“Pick me up at seven?” Levy offered, more excited than she really should be, and trying to be casual enough that she didn’t show it.

“You sure about this Shorty? I’m not exactly the kind of guy girls like you go to art shows with. Also, your friend looks like she’s trying to make my head explode with her eyes.” 

Levy turned around. He was right. Lucy was looking murder in their direction. Levy ignored her. Gajeel looked incredibly uncomfortable, the red still staining his neck. She was never going to get sick of the incongruity of an embarrassed flush on this monster of a man.

“You have no idea what kind of girl I am. And,” she looked him up and down, appreciating his wild appearance, the softness that was hidden under his expression, the humor present in the corner of his mouth, and the hope that he seemed to be trying to keep out of his eyes, “you look just fine to me. Seven?”

“Sounds good Shorty. Looking forward to it.” And he smiled wide and genuine, and she smiled back just as big, and for a second they just stood and smiled at each other, until Lucy ran over and dragged Levy off by the hand, and Levy laughed the whole time she was being pulled away. 

She heard Gajeel’s motorcycle roar to life and it didn’t sound intimidating anymore. She grinned. She had a date! She would have to apologize to Lucy about that alarm clock business. And maybe she would sleep late more often.


End file.
